Grant Minix’s backyard oasis has several features worth bragging about. It is a toxin-free, bay-friendly garden with edible plants and a picturesque pond.

Yet when his place was crowded with visitors on last year’s annual StopWaste.org bay-friendly Garden Tour, his inventive system for collecting rainwater from the garage roof of his Oakland home took center stage.

“It was the most popular thing on the tour,” Minix says. “Everyone wanted to know about the rain barrels.”

Minix uses three barrels, ranging from a 55-gallon drum to a 30-gallon barrel, to capture rainwater. He attaches the barrels to the downspout of his roof with a wide hose he purchased for $4.

When it rains, the barrels fill up quickly. On dry days, Minix dips his watering can into the barrels and uses the free H2O to tend his many garden plants.

“Those three barrels will last us at least two months if not 2 1/2 months,” he says. “We use the water during the dry season – June, July, August – to cut down on the water bill.”

Storing rainwater is nothing new, says Bethallyn Black, who manages the Urban Horticulture program at UC-Davis’ Contra Costa County extension. It’s called rain harvesting, and people have done it throughout time.

“We are now sort of rediscovering the tools our grandparents were aware of,” Black says.

Catching rain for future use is attractive because rain is a free yet valuable resource that would otherwise go down storm sewers and into the bay, Black says. Rain is also pH neutral and plant-friendly, Black says, unlike the relatively high pH of water provided by Bay Area public utility companies.

“If you are a gardener and you want to take care of your plants, using rainwater is a good thing,” Black says. “Your plants will like you.”

Black also isn’t fond of the idea of watering her carrots with water pumped across the state from the Sierra when she could just as easily use water that falls onto her roof.

“I think it’s a very expensive use of a resource,” she says.

Rain barrels don’t seem common in the Bay Area. Several landscapers said they are interested in the process, but have never helped a homeowner install a rain barrel.

Jacob Feaselman of the Southern California-based company GREENCulture, which sells rain barrels, says people’s awareness of the practice seems to be growing.

“It’s a great alternative,” Feaselman says. “You can collect water that is going to waste anyway and use it on your garden.”

Collecting rainwater has a few pitfalls. First of all, water collected should never be used for drinking water. Black warns that gardeners should use special care when choosing a barrel and the one they acquire should be should be kept covered: Open containers can pose dangers to children and wildlife, and can provide a breeding ground for mosquitoes, which can breed in a matter of days.

Non-toxic mosquito pellets are recommended – Minix says he uses pellets and puts a thin garbage bag over his barrels when they are not in use. Maintenance is minimal, he says.

Some water barrels are too small to do much good, Black says, unless gardeners keep several in their yards. She prefers barrels that carry hundreds of gallons of water and are tall, narrow and rectangular and can be strapped to a fence. These barrels, which can be ordered at www.plasticstoragetank.com , run into the hundreds of dollars, and usually take an expert to install.

If you want to go the cheaper route and use 55-gallon drums, Black suggests using clean barrels that have never held any sort of chemical. Minix uses barrels he got free from a local grocery store. They used to hold olive oil.

IF YOU’RE INTERESTED

Bethallyn Black is teaching a class about rain harvesting through the Master Gardener Program, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 6 at the Contra Costa County Extension offices, 75 Santa Barbara Road, Second Floor, Pleasant Hill. The class is limited to 75 people. To register, call (925) 646-6540. The class is free, but attendees will be asked for a small donation to cover printing costs.

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